"All my friends that I told I was going to be out here for almost two weeks thought I was crazy," said Brad Slavin, the communications officer for Otto's Army and one of the first five to arrive. "But this is the senior memory that I've been waiting for."

Slavin and Ben Glidden, the Otto's Army president, organize the campers, sending out tweets to alert soldiers of the battle plan. Last year, students numbering in "the high hundreds" made the same sacrifice for Georgetown.

Glidden expects about 1,200 students to camp out in "Boeheimburg" to secure the best Duke seats. Dome personnel will permit them to expand to Gate D and Gate F if the numbers swell to uncomfortable proportions. (Glidden said about 5,000 SU students will likely attend the game.)

Temperatures are expected to dip into the single digits this week. Glidden said Dome personnel allows the students to come inside when the weather makes frostbite a dangerous possibility. But Glidden said he prefers to brave the elements, to show those Duke kids who camp out on comparatively balmy 40 degree days that Syracuse is tough enough to weather any and all conditions.

And if the mercury drops below freezing?

"I try not to think about it," Glidden said.

Students sign up in groups of four; one member of the group must be at the dome at all times to guarantee a spot in line. The rotation of group members allows for students to attend classes, eat, grab a shower and, in this case, warm up.

None of the SU students really knows what to expect. Students camped out for 10 days before the Georgetown game; 12 days would be a record for this group.

For the past couple years, SU coaches have visited the campers, thanking them with coffee and doughnuts. Slavin hopes the staff returns. The concrete sleeping floor, the cramped quarters, the brutal cold -- it's nice to know the Orange appreciates the effort.

"We want to make an impact. We want to make it easier for them to win or more difficult for the other team to win," Slavin said. "It's gonna take two weeks, but I think once we're in there we'll be that much more excited to be inside and make Duke's life very difficult for a couple hours."